1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF NOVEMBER 19 | GIVING THANKS: WHY WE LOVE GAMES

Metroid Prime Vs. Fusion: How a Team of Texans Out-Nintendoed Nintendo

Cover Story: 10 years ago, gamers witnessed the battle between evolution and refinement.

Continued (page 2 of 2)

But instead, they wisely squelched the ability to bound around like an astronaut on the moon for jump mechanics that worked. Retro wisely recognized jumping as the single most problematic area of any first-person shooter. Games as diverse as Star Wars: Dark Forces to troubled N64 adventure Turok: Dinosaur Hunter had tried and failed to make the idea of jumping in a first-person perspective. Even the mighty Half-Life made a mess of it. Eventually, every FPS with a sequence involving jumps degenerated to inching forward slowly with the camera angle tilted down and praying that your nebulous hit box registers a landing on the platform you're angling toward.

Or rather, every FPS except one. Exact's Jumping Flash!, a largely forgotten shooter from the earliest days of the PlayStation, had boldly built its entire design around jumps, double-jumps, even triple jumps that sent its mechanical rabbit hero hurtling high into the air around tiny floating islands in the sky. And yet, Jumping Flash! had been a joy to play thanks to a single stroke of design genius: The game's camera angle automatically panned slightly downward as protagonist Robbit began to descend, giving players a clear sense of their aerial target without requiring any fussing about with the camera. While that choice was likely born of the limitations of the original PlayStation controller, which lacked any analog input (let alone a twin stick setup for adjusting the camera), it worked wonderfully... and inexplicably failed to be mimicked by any other developer's work until Metroid Prime. Retro has never said whether or not they drew inspiration from Jumping Flash!, but in any case this common camera mechanic sets the two series apart from the competition: The world's only first-person shooters in which the act of jumping feels liberating, not punishing.

But then, Metroid Prime wasn't really a shooter -- not in the traditional sense. Despite the GameCube's (admittedly somewhat unconventional) twin-stick design, Prime didn't employ the right stick for free looking in the usual FPS way. While Samus engaged in plenty of gunplay, the need to aim precisely was scuttled in favor of a lock-on targeting mechanic drawn from Ocarina of Time. Retro aimed for a more cerebral experience that emphasized scanning foes and the environment, exposing specific weaknesses, and the free-roaming navigation of a vast world. This rather experimental approach to the medium made Prime wildly different from other console shooters, giving it a methodical feel more in line with Looking Glass' System Shock games. (Perhaps not surprisingly, System Shock's spiritual successor BioShock drew plenty of comparisons to Metroid Prime when it reached console fans unfamiliar with Ken Levine's previous work.)

Nevertheless, as often can be the case with experimental projects, Prime wasn't without its shortcomings. The elements that helped it stand out sometimes worked against it as well; its cumbersome shooting controls sufficed in most situations the game threw at players, but against some of the later boss and upper-tier Space Pirate encounters, Samus felt grossly incapable of holding her own. The open-ended exploration kept Prime feeling like a Metroid game through and through, but the final march to the endgame sent players scurrying back through the entirety of the game world in search of a handful of MacGuffins.

Prime marked a refreshing change for the shooter genre... and, more impressively, it felt like Metroid in every sense despite its completely reengineered tech and perspective.

Despite these kinks, Prime marked a refreshing change for the shooter genre... and, more impressively, it felt like Metroid in every sense despite its completely reengineered tech and perspective.

By contrast, Metroid Fusion brought radical change to the underpinnings of the Metroid concept while sporting the familiar visual style of its predecessor. While few would claim it's a terrible game, many fans feel it's poor excuse for a Metroid title.

Fusion presented Samus Aran in a completely new light. Rather than casting her as the silent, invincible huntress, Fusion instead showed her as an introspective survivor. Where before Samus had gone from strong to stronger, she begins Fusion by being almost fatally crippled and spends the entirety of the adventure evading a shadow of her former, more powerful self. Where the eponymous metroids played the role of enemies, here they provided Samus with life.

Samus wasn't all that changed for Fusion. The entire structure of the game took on a different feel, with the player bring guided at every turn by a talkative computer and locked out of areas irrelevant to the current sequence of events. For many, this proved to be the breaking point: To them, the series had always been about discovery and exploration, and being guided from point to point violated their expectations of what a Metroid game should be.

That's definitely a fair point of view, yet it's also arguably narrow. Metroid Fusion was designed as a portable title, and much of its design represents Nintendo attempting to create an experience appropriate to the format. In recognition of the way players would likely be experiencing Fusion -- in small pieces and short sessions -- its creators broke the adventure into discrete, self-contained areas. Yet within each portion of the space station on which the story transpired, Samus (and players) were largely left to their own devices until it was time to move onto the next session. The primary change between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion was that each game's regions were linked differently, with less opportunity for exploration -- but also less likelihood of missing a key item and wandering aimlessly for an hour in search of the means to progress further.

And even then, Fusion's constraints weren't permanent. The hard divisions between each of the station's sectors eventually gave way once Samus chose to go rogue, breaking out of the "proper" route through the game and taking her destiny into her own hands. Portal's much-lauded plot twist, in which Chell escapes from the test lab by slipping into the structure of the building, had already been done five years before in Metroid Fusion. And after being forced into a computer's submission for most of the game, the rebellious act of bypassing its safeguards and the station's rigid structure made for a satisfying change of pace. Fusion uses the concept of boundaries to enhance the sense of freedom you experience toward the game's end.

Until that point, though, the moment-by-moment objectives and frequent exposition created a decidedly atypical Metroid experience, which accounts for the game's tough reception. The series had thrived on solitude and loneliness, leaving players free to find their own way in a convoluted world. Fusion sticks a computer in your ear until Samus finally breaks free, and constantly lays down detailed information on your next objective and the route to reach it. Fans hated it, and understandably so: Not simply because it was different, but because it represented a material change to the entire concept of Metroid.

In retrospect, though, many fans didn't appreciate just how good they had it in 2002. Both Metroid Prime and Fusion rank among the top titles on their respective platforms, and both were succeeded by direct follow-ups that fell well short of their excellence. The second and third Primes suffered from needlessly convoluted mechanics and a broken-up structure with a heavy emphasis on dialogue, respectively. Meanwhile, Metroid: Other M singled in on the narrative focus and linearity of Fusion to the exclusion of all else while abandoning the classic exploration and platforming in favor of pure reflex-driven combat.

As we look back on Prime and Fusion a decade later, the Metroid franchise's future seems as uncertain as it did in the darkest days of the N64. Nintendo hasn't forgotten it by any means -- as the addition of the Metroid Blast event to Nintendo Land will attest -- but the good will and good sales generated by Prime faded over the course of the Wii's lifespan. Series steward Sakamoto found far greater success with the (Japan-only) social DS game Tomodachi Collection than with recent Metroid projects, so perhaps it's not surprising that his team has been immersed in developing a 3DS sequel to that venture rather than trying to squeeze profit from an increasingly barren stone with Metroid.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can appreciate both Prime and Fusion as two very different attempts to evolve the Metroid series, both of which work neatly in conjunction. In many ways, their sequels attempted to combine many of their innovations and failed. Maybe that means Metroid isn't meant to fully evolve. Perhaps the series has advanced as far as it can. Whatever the future, both Prime and Fusion represent high points in the Metroid franchise's legendary past... and that's no bad thing at all.

Jeremy Parish kindly requests that you not force him to choose a favorite baby from the Metroid series: He loves many of the games (including these two) too much to pick. However, he's not a fan of the Baby, mainly because Samus would not be quiet about the danged thing.

I felt the aiming system in Metroid Prime worked great for how it was designed.

While playing Metroid Prime, I never once had a thought cross my mind that the controls were lacking. The lock-on and aiming system worked great throughout the entire game. Even as the enemies got faster and more vertical towards the end, I still felt the lock-on system worked and it created a sort of "twirling dance" you had to master in order to defeat your foes. Managing the environment while dodging bullets and returning fire of your own felt awesome and completely different from all other games I played at the time. I will say that in Metroid Prime 2, there were a few enemies that overpowered the lock-on system to where it felt unfair, but as far as the first Prime goes, it's a simply perfect balance.

Relatively Easy but Still Incredible

While I don't disagree that Retro's approach of adapting a 2D exploration title to 3D was "relatively easy," I do think that angle of looking at it side-steps what made it most impressive to a lot of us at the time. This was the timeframe when console-based First-Person Shooters were really taking off, and all of them were fairly combat-focused action games. By handling the title to an untested developer and making it a first-person shooter, it seemed that Nintendo had opted to jump onto that bandwagon and just slap the Metroid aesthetic on top of it. When Fusion was announced to be released alongside it, it only further cemented those concerns; we assumed that Fusion was the "real" Metroid game, and that Prime was the exploitative offshoot.

That we were wrong is obvious now, but who could really blame us for thinking so? For that matter, if a similar situation came up now, we'd still think the same. How often do publishers get accused of "milking" a successful franchise? It's an easy way to add sales to a game that might otherwise never stand out.

What I'm getting at, is that the impressive part of Metroid Prime isn't that they were able to adapt those mechanics to 3D, it's that they tried to at all. When everyone else was making franchise decisions that were building the foundation for the cynical gamers we have now, Nintendo, and Retro, actually put in the effort to make one of the best titles in the series.

OtherM haters.

I dont understand all of the OtherM hate. I just played through it about 2 months ago and I felt it was a pretty good spiritual successor to the 2D sidescrolling roots where Metroid started at. I love the Metroid series, I stated playing the original when I was 2 years old in 1990, after watching my parents run around for hours unable to figure out that they needed to go left at the begining to get the Morph Ball so that they could continue on. My mom still tells that story to all of my friends when we are talking about games.

Aside from that, I am holding off buying a wiiU until a Metroid or Zelda title is announced. Well or Smash Bros comes out.

Plot ruins all.

Most of the hate is entirely because of the insipid plot and characterization. The gameplay was fine, though it was admittedly divisive for people who didn't want any major changes to playstyle (like the loss of health pickups) and the ability to explore.

It's not about being told the story but interpreting the story in solitude

The spirit of Metroid is solitude. It's what made the past games so great and it is the fundamental reason why the later entries have been so poor. You could relate to Samus in that both of you were dropped in a world where you had no clue what was going on but always felt a brooding sense of dread and despair as you felt the odds were stacked against you. As a result, we were left to interpret the story for ourselves about what happened. This is the key component I feel has connected gamers to this series is the complete abandonment and usage of ones own imagination to determine what happened through suggestive environmental design.

If you don't believe me, look at 1, 2, Super Metroid, and Prime. In none of these games is the story told to you during the game. You're given the back story through the instruction book, but everything from that point on you have to piece it together. While some may argue that Prime requires reading, you were not directly communicated with but moreso were scanning information for facts so you could piece it together yourself.

Metroids greatest success operated on the power of ones imagination through solitude. I would contest that my Metroid world probably feel different than Jeremy's world or anyone else who has posted here. That's the real brilliance in this game is because it creates a solitude world and requires interpretation from you as the gamer, the end result is that it becomes more personal and meaningful.

Prime 2, 3, and Fusion slowly strayed from that idea which is why the connection may not be as strong with those games. Other M was a complete abomination to the solitude idea and made Metroid into something it wasn't. The journey was no longer yours because you weren't making the decision to go down that tunnel...someone else was. All of a sudden Samus was expressing feelings....but those weren't your feelings. Nintendo has slowly been stripping the personal element that connected the gamer to the games which is why they have lost their way.

Game developers need to rediscover that as graphics continue to improve, sometimes less is more. PSN games like Journey....Flower....Braid....etc. have proven this. While Microsoft, Nintendo, and Playstation struggle to create faster and more powerful hardware, they are forgetting to utilize the most integral piece of equipment....our OWN imagination.

Loved them both

I remember waiting until the release of Metroid prime to buy my GameCube. It's still one of my all time favorite games. I also bought Fusion around the same time, which I also loved, though not quite as much as Prime. I actually loved the scanning in Prime, I swear I spent more time just scanning shit than actually playing the game, lol. Though I have to say that another FPS with really good jumping is Halo. Halo:CE had such great exploration in it and a lot of that used the jumping mechanic which I thought was great for an FPS. Not Metroid Prime great, but still great. This was a greta read, I enjoyed it.

Metroid Fusion

Metroid Fusion was the my first entry into the Metroid series. It was by far my most cherished GBA game. I like what they did with it. Metroid Prime blew me away too. I feel fortunate to have experienced both games at the age that I did.

Typooooo

Anyways, I loved Metroid Fusion when I was younger and recently I've tried to play through Prime and the controls kill it for me. No strafing, c-stick being used just to switch weapons or items or whatever? That's really hard to get past. Fusion is my favorite Metroid game, though Super Metroid certainly comes close, and Prime was a big disappointment. I went in expecting something phenomenal, but the outdated controls just really prevent me from enjoying myself. :<

Loved this article

I knew most everything here already (I'm a huge Metroid fan), but it was still an entertaining read. Also, Jumping Flash! reference! My earliest impression of the Playstation was playing that game at a demo kiosk in a KB Toys in the mid 90s.

Can't wait for Gamecube and Wii HD versions on Wii U

Return to it's roots.

Here's to hoping we see some Metroid love this generation, even if the signs so far haven't been promising(lack of 25th anniversary celebration). I'd love to see a return to the old 2D platforming in 3D(a la Shadow Complex) personally.

Great read

I'm always up for a long in-depth read from Parish. Even when discussing series I have no interest in, for the most part (I really did like the first Prime, however). Metroid has always been a series I wish I could like more - I want to like it, but I find it hard to get into. It's just not my general style of play. Mainly, I don't like backtracking.

Still curious to see where it goes from here, though. Lot of good applications to be used with the Wii U, but that could be said for many games.

great article

these 2 games sit high on the list of greatest games ever made. they are both perfect. metroid prime when it came out was stunning. and fusion too was just a fantastic metroid even if it was different than previous metroids. i can only hope that 3ds is getting a proper 2d metroid and the wiiu is getting a new prime or rretro is working on another reinvention of the series. that will be the day i buy a wii u. my favorite sereis of all time

And i certainly dont believe metroid is done evolving. we have yet to see a 3rd person game in 3d done right. other m had momentary flashed of what that could look like but every other aspect was poorly designed. if retro tried thier hand ant it we could have a new classic. just imagine super metroid in all its glory made with a 3rd dimension, it can be done!! they just need to be given the go ahead

Fusion for me

I didn't own a GameCube and didn't play MP1 until getting Trilogy. (I actually played and beat MP3 before trying #1, and I never even started up Echoes.) I enjoy watching LPs of these games, particularly Slowbeef's LPs of #1 and #3, but I just don't feel like I have the free time to play these games blind in order to really get into them, and yet I don't want to keep a web browser window open telling me the best order of zones or planets to hit... Anyways, I think Fusion's hated on too much for some poor reasons. It has more boss fights than Super Metroid and some of them are pretty neat: I really liked the space jump, plasma beam, screw attack, and Gravity Suit bosses. Plus, if Adam's wearing you out, you can always just keep mashing the A button until he stops talking. It's really handy as a portable game; I replayed it a bit on 3DS and it was nice being able to play for 15-20 minutes, shut it off, come back in 3-4 days and get a quick reminder of what I was trying to do before.

I just wish with both of these games and the later Metroid games that the developers would worry less about keeping all passengers' hands inside the vehicle at all times. I really enjoy the utility of things in Super Metroid like wall jumping, bomb jumping, crystal flashes, mockballing, etc. I've never been able to play that game that way, but it's fun at least watching videos of people playing the game and trying all these cool tricks. The number of ways people have tried sequence breaking Super Metroid is really interesting to me, perhaps because I'd always slog through the game getting about 80% completion over 5-6 hours it and never did stuff like fight Kraid without the Hi-Jump Boots or Ridley without the Gravity or Varia suits. In contrast, the breaks in MP1 are big problems (!). (Correct me if I'm wrong, didn't Trilogy even go a little out of the way to "correct" these sequence break-allowing mistakes?) And in Fusion there's one noticeable sequence break, which isn't a break so much as a neat little secret for super-duper players. At least there's the fun 1% runs folks talk about (or the ultra-mythical 0% run made possible only with a combination of save states, emulator slowdown, and unicorn blood), though I haven't watched a good LP of that yet.

I wouldn't mind a new Metroid, even one with a robo-nanny telling a weak vulnerable Samus what to do, if it could open up with a "sandbox" feel right away, and wouldn't punish clever players who could discover cool new ways to play through it all. And as bad as Other M was, I thought it did a better job of delineating *when* the whole game opened up than Fusion, which never really told you everything was open.

(And an aside, on the actual plots: now that we've had two separate games with a secretly-corrupt-evil-government creation of space monsters, a.k.a. "who are the REAL monsters?!" sort of plot, can we have a Metroid with much less of the Galactic Federation? It's really simple... Just have a Metroid game where Samus is paid money to go check out some Metroids appearing after they were supposed to go extinct. Put it in Sector Z, the uncharted ultra-Space-Piratey sector of space, or maybe on the ancient derelict research station named the Safety Blanket Ship. Please? You guys at Nintendo are making this way too difficult for yourselves.) (Also can we stop having evil Samus doppelgangers? Maybe Samus X, Dark Samus, and even Dark Link can be left to their own devices, can just go knock off for a few years on an extended vacation in Dark Colorado.. They can even let that dark Mario spawned from prankster comets tag along too, it'll be great!)

Gamecube Day 1 Purchase

I bought Super Monkey Ball......nuff said. That's why I wait after launch days for games like prime to come out now. For the record, I was a engineer student in college that decided to rent "Luigi's Mansion" and "rogue leader". Monkey Ball was a better drinking game with friends.

It has to be a brand new ip from Nintendo to get me to buy a Wii U. Until then, I will just catch up all the nintendo sequels that just came out, halo 4, and pokemon bw2. Too many games...too little time.

Music and Look

Part of the reason Prime works so very well is, even thoug the perspective has shifted, it feels and sounds just like the original games. Contrast that to Konami's latest Castelvania attempt (which I admittadly never got all the way through) - very little looked like the classic games, and there was nothing of the famous Castlevania themes in the music.

favorite metroid

I think the best metroid so far is fusion it took the metroid series and made it something new and great there definately should be a sequel it made such a impression that you can have the fusion suit in prime my other favorite!

yeah

on their second top-100 games list, for their 150th issue, they names Super Metroid. the first list, which they did for their 100th issue, they named tetris, which was bumped down to number two on the second list. for their 200th issue, they changed the list to the 200 greatest games of 'their' time (whatever the hell that means). anyway, number one on that list was super mario bros, which is much more sensible. super metroid's a great game, but definitely not number one of all time. i think it was in the teens on that 200 list.

Metroid Prime: The reason I bought a Gamecube and a Wii.

Will I buy a Wii U? Thats conginent on their being another Metroid game.

I have fond memoires of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime Echoes, but I have less love for Metroid Prime Corruption and Other M. I think once there started to be talking in the game the whole experience became more generic. The ambience became too millitairistic, too pedestrian and too similar to other games like Halo. Metroid lost its sense of mystery.

The next studio that makes a Metroid game needs to really think about what a unique experinece Prime was and still is.

Other M

Do you know your gaming?

You mention "Turok" as if it is in a class all by itself. But the game development studio Retro was primarily staffed by Iguana (Acclaim) employees; Many of whom worked on Turok. Turok was 1st person development practice for the Retro developed Metroid titles, as was its sequel Turok 2.

Isn't it interesting....

That Metroid Prime 3, became a spiritual successor to Metroid Fusion. What with it's missioned based gameplay and all. While I enjoyed Fusion to a point, the Mission aspect, which was different and a change of pace, kept it from being a classic in my mind.

Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion

are two great games. Metroid Prime is one of of my five perfect games.

However, despite mentioning Turok and Half Life and Star Wars Dark Forces, one game that never gets the mention it deserves when discussing Metroid Prime is Exhumed for the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation. I think Exhumed, despite it's age, needs to be played still and deserves its own legacy.

Am I the only person who remembers this true classic? Lets bring back Lobotomy Software.

i love both of these games

the prime series lost a step with 2, but it came back fairly strong with 3. still not up to the quality of the original, but much better than echoes.

fusion was great to me, as well. i feel it has the best narrative in the series, and probably my favorite graphics of any gba game. i haven't been able to get into other m still, though i'll get around to it eventually.

anybody remember the gba link cable bonuses you got when you beat both games? you unlocked the fusion suit for samus on prime, and the ability to play the original metroid on the prime disk, as well. i thought those were great, and other than crystal chronicles and animal crossing, that was the only use i ever got out of my gba link cable :P

link cable and prime 2

you didin't like prime2 I just beat it recently and i would have to say its the hardest metroid title i ever played hands down and great and i do remember the cables that let ya play metroid even better was when you beat zero you get to play the original for free I hope they do a special 3ds metroid but not like hunters couldn't get into the control scheme seemed too hard to me.

Metroid back to the basics .

I Really have to say metroid was always dear to me it was the first game i had on the original nes 8 bit. I replayed that game many times over. When the super nintendo version came out I was so happy and excited that they did everything right and amped it up better visuals..great storie. I can see how the Metroid series over the last two decades has probably caused a creative block with developers its a hard franchise to nail on the head but if "They" ever do it again , people will know right away...and say "yeh now this is metroid"!! also the games that used that mechanic is beloved by fans and it works! the old 2D models ex: Symphony of the night...it works ...however the problem is on the new generation of consoles I think developers dont go the classic 2D and try the 3D ..however the mario wiiu does a good way of kinda combining both worlds...so im sure they can get the metroid thing right if they use a little creativity in the simple desighn choice

I AM STILL LOOKING FOR THE MCMUFFINS

I loved Metroid Prime but had a huge amount of trouble getting into its sequel -- I had to restart it a number of times, with months between attempts. Finally I decided to try again, skipping all the cut scenes and avoiding scanning as much as possible -- that removed most of what I found tiresome about the game: boring, convoluted, fan-ficy "world building" and the sense of somebody looking over my shoulder. I also agree that adding a "light world/dark world" mechanic felt like one thing too many, but on the other hand, I really enjoyed seeing Retro's artists reinterpret the entire game's architecture -- no surprise there, the MP games have unparalled art design.

Great article, even though I kinda disagree

I like the detail and reflections you give Jeremy, as always. However I find a lot of the Prime opinions either a little exaggerated from my point of view or just in a totally different corner of memory from 10 years ago. Maybe it's just because I'm one of those who was blown away by Prime but also gains further appreciation for it as time goes on; it's in my top 30 favorite videogames after all.

"But then, Metroid Prime wasn't really a shooter -- not in the traditional sense." You've probably had this genre debate hundreds of times over the past decade, but if you still call it a first-person shooter even today I guess there's no changing now. In my view and many, many others, Prime is not a "shooter" at all. Even this site and wikipedia and nintendo call it an adventure or action adventure. But to be fair, it was a hot topic many years ago, making many gamers rethink their genre classification methods. I still remember totally uncalled comparisons and fanboy debates between Prime and Halo back in 2002, it was ridiculous because it essentially boiled down to a sci-fi-first-person-visored-hero war. Other than the superficial 1st-person camera with a projectile weapon in the bottom right of the frame (Samus always held her cannon frontwards in the 2D games anyways), Prime did not play like an FPS in the bigger picture, or even the smaller picture. As an action-adventure like Super Metroid before it, there was much more than shooting going on. Not to say all shooters feature shooting and nothing else, but even most FPS games with RPG elements and skill progression serve just to make you better at killing things (as opposed to platforming or puzzle solving like Zelda and Metroid gear do). The irregular non-dual analog controls and lock-on system reaffirmed the message that gamers should not be playing this like a shooter any more than they should be playing Zelda like a hack-n-slash.

More uniquely by myself, I disagree about the weapon-swap mechanic. As much as the game doesn't revolve around shooting, I still like having 4 unique beams that I get to choose how to approach my opponents. Even cooler if my enemies HAD to be shot with a specific beam thanks to their electrical, glacial, or fiery nature, etc. Beams each provided their own badass missile upgrade perk as well if you found the optional upgrade. Power beam had rapid fire, ice beam had slow recover but froze dudes at full charge, etc. It felt better than just mindlessly shooting a single increasingly-capable beam throughout the whole game. I never felt it made any battles like a slog; it takes 1 second to swap!

The scanning mechanic was genius, at first it was odd because it had us read a lot. But I see it mentioned increasingly in appreciation of Prime's immersive, embedded narrative design. It made me feel like a detective and archaeologist at once. Rather than complicating things for me, it often helped out the pacing and relationship between objects in the world...often to help progress. Case in point: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/588741-super-metroid/48828884

I admit to getting stuck on the glass tube part of SuperM. And I don't like to waste power bombs...there as no visual icon that only power bombs break glass. If I couldn't find a visual cue in Prime, I could always fall back in deciphering the narrative historical context of an object/material. It wasn't spoonfeeding because I still had to pay attention and link relationships. Also, the thermal visor and return of the X-ray were just plain cool.

I also disagree with the 2nd and third Primes falling "well short". In my memory they didn't have needlessly convoluted mechanics or anything close to heavy emphasis on dialogue. That's Other M. I particularly love Echoes nearly as much as the first Prime. It was an excellent sequel to the token 1st 3D transitionary game. Not saying it's the caliber of Majora's Mask, but like MM it took the 3D mechanics with boosted confidence and added a darker twist with a higher challenge and atypical design. Light/Dark parellel worlds a la Zelda:LTTP yet with the DIY attitude of a Metroid game. The limited ammo system required less spamming on the player's part. The enemies were tougher and the life-draining Dark Aether gave a Majora's Mask sense of vulnerability. The world of Aether as a whole was arguably the most fleshed-out world Samus visited, with environments that went beyond some of the stereotypical regions of action-adventures. Echoes didn't screw around, except that tacked-on Versus mode but whatever.

Other than that stuff, I agree with the underappreciated jumping mechanics and like everyone I disliked the scavenger hunt near the end of the game. Greg Kasavin's very informative (oh the good days of Gamespot) review http://www.gamespot.com/metroid-prime/reviews/metroid-prime-review-2897768/ pretty much described my near-flawless feeling of Prime. But that's just me. If anything, your perceptions of a different shade tell me more from a Metroid vet than something I already know and agree with.

I enjoyed both

Great article and I must say, i played both of them at the same time and has so much fun. I would like another other M style game with more exploration and some new power ups on the 3ds. I think fusion incorporated some survival horror moments with the other samus clone looking for you and having to hide and run away (a bit clock towerish at times) was something that felt challenging, which Other M should have tried but didn't. Whatever happens with the next Metroid, I am all for it.

Metroid Fusion and Survival Horror

I loved Metroid Fusion--ambitious and daring, it basically provided a taut, suspenseful narrative right out of cinema's Aliens. Samus, stranded in a derelict, alien infested space station, has to survive untold dangers while being hunted by a sinister doppelganger. It's great stuff, and a great game raw with tension in all the right places.

It's a pity Nintendo never followed up Fusion with a Metroid 5 that continued the survivalist theme, but with perhaps with an even greater focus on tension and fear. Maybe that's what the long rumored Metroid Dread would have actually done--provide gamers with a Metroid experience where the suspense, or dread, was palpable. Shame we'll likely never know.

Right on

I didn't know when playing it that the doppelganger bits were all at predetermined scripted moments, but then again I guess that didn't really take it away from that survival-horror sort of thing. Those were pretty cool moments.

One of my favorite parts in Fusion is when you have to go through NOC without the appropriate suit to keep those leechy blue X-parasites from killing you. Or, when the power shuts off and you lose stuff you take for granted, like saving your game. Or, even when you have to go through the Secret Area without returning to a computer room after fulfilling your last objective... although if I remember right, I thought the main reason for that was an impassible one-sided door. Dumb old Adam didn't account for Sammy not having a wave beam on her at that moment.

Anyways, yeah! Why NOT have a Metroid Dread where there's an accentuated sense of tension with exploring the unknown areas? It still can be Nintendo-easy with regenerating enemies spawning energy, if you want to camp in a spot for 5 minutes recharging before the boss fight. I think in the original Super Metroid some of the coolest areas combined a sense of dread with the unknown-- particularly Brinstar 2, Maridia 2, and the Wrecked Ship..

Metroid Dread

I would love for Metroid Dread (if it ever were to actually happen) to be a more tense and somewhat horror esque Metroid game. I mean i've always felt that the series had plenty of tension at points but I would love to see them take it further. One area from Super Metroid that is extremely tesne is the Wrecked Ship, I still get chills everytime I first enter that area.

So Metroid Fusion...

I certainly don't hate the game, but in some ways I feel Nintendo didn't change enough. Aside from the climbing, ledge grabbing, ice missiles, and (mostly beneficial) streamlining of controls, Samus's moveset isn't really all that different from what she had in Super Metroid.

And speaking of the forced linearity, it even extends to when the game goes off rails. If you enter a navigation room during that time (and you'll have to at some point), you'll automatically get locked into the endgame sequence and final battles with no way to go back to exploring.

I don't think Metroid Fusion's more linear focus is entirely bad, though. It really could've worked great if the game did more of its own thing, tried to differentiate itself more from its direct 2D predecessor.

Fusion&Prime

Metroid has

and always will be one of my all-time favorite series. I guess I was never as skeptical about how it would turn out as most people were, especially after reading an article in EGM. I think it was John Davison that wrote it, but he had said that Miyamoto visited Retro Studios and seen some things that he did not like about the game and then he compared the visit to Darth Vader visiting the death star, meaning stuff was going to get done, and get done right, after the visit.

I had always had high hopes for it before release because I was picturing Nintendo doing to Samus what they had done to Mario and Zelda, just like the article said..... Then when it dropped... "Minds Were Blown" I called in sick for two days at work just to keep playing it.

Truly a great accomplishment by Retro! Also, props to Nintendo for knowing that they could put their I.P. in Retro's hands and know that they could trust them to get the job done. (Nintendo has some weird sixth sense about finding talented developers)

I thought so

Maybe I only hung out in the angry corners of the Internet. My perception, however, was that Fusion suffered an immediate backlash from a lot of Metroid fans that's dulled to grudging acceptance and even fondness over time. In any case, it was far more divisive a game than Prime, which received almost universal plaudits.

I'm with Pacario

That's what I feel like I "overheard" from general fan circles. A great handheld game, not as amazing as Super Metroid. Not sure if I remember anybody made it such a big deal...maybe because it was GBA? Anyway, the Grand Slamn Metroid Prime came out, camera perspective be damned, and everyone was happy at least from what I saw at the time.

Fusion

Fusion will always hold a very special place in my heart, mainly because it's the game the that got me into the Metroid series which happens to be my favorite video game series. Prior to Fusion I had only seen people playing Metroid but I never them myself. After playing Fusion I went on to play the original and Super Metroid and like I said before Metroid has become my favorite series, and Super Metroid is my favorite video game ever. Also Fusion is my favorite handheld game.

Although SuperM -> Mprime

And ALTTP -> Ocarina of Time, Mario 64 breaks the sequence. I mean yeah it's a valid comment on how Nintendo updated their franchises but Mario 64 is definitely not a literal interpretation of Super Mario World's design/structure.

And like everyone else, I too can't wait to hear that Retro is working on atm.

Metroid

I love the Prime Trilogy, that alone made Retro Studios my most favorite developer, and I don't get the hate for Fusion, I never played it before, I am on my 3DS and think it's a good game. As for Other M, if you can get past the narative, the game delivered on the gameplay aspect, and the after-game portions were great. On the subject of Prime, I think Prime 3 is my most favorite, it did many things different, I loved the planet exploration, the lore from those planets species, the Gunship finally did something usefull other than saving and ammo restoration, and the Pirate Homeworld, that is the high point in the game for me.

Maybe it's because MP3 was the first Metroid game I ever played, I never played MP1&2 before, who knows. I did play them thanks to the Trilogy disc, it's really hard to find now, and if you do, it's really expensive, glad I got the Collectors Edition when I had the chance. But on the subject of Metroid, Prime was one of the Gamecubes greatest games along side Windwaker, it had alot of great games, 1st-party wise and that's why it my favorite out of Nintendo's consoles.

Metroid Prime was basically Super Metroid in a 3D world with a first-person perspective. I mean did anyone ever think that we'd be playing a first-person Metroid game? It nailed every aspect of the franchise imo, it got the exploration right, the lonely, brooding enviroment right, everything. And it threw in some horror/survival elements in as well. It's not a perfect game, but it's a great game.

As for the future of the franchise, we're not sure if we'll see a 2D Metroid or a Prime styled one, WayForward said if we'd love to see a 2D Metroid from them. On the Wii U, I previously blogged about what Retro can do with a 3D Metroid on the Wii U, the thought of it has me excited. But I just know that it'll be awesome.

If only there was Prime Wii U!!

I recall once reading that Metroid wasn't very popular in Japan compared to the US (this was ages ago, around the time Super Metroid came out - I probably read it in EGM). Maybe it's just that us westerners "get it" better than they do.

Dude I probably

...read the same exact sentence in the same issue :P I remember EGM being the first time I ever got the idea the Metroid was more successful in the US than Japan, and idea that really turned my kid brain upside down and changed the way I thought about games (at the time, i thought of Japan as some sort of gamer's heaven, where everyone was a gamer, and every aspect of gaming was more fun, more acceptable, more accessable, and more affordable. I suspect all kids growing up in the 90s felt that way.) :O)

Completely agree!

Metroid Prime instantly became (and still is) my favorite game ever, while it took two trips through Fusion before I came to love it for what it represents. Then Prime 3 and Other M happened, and that's when I decided to not wish for any more Metroid games, and simply be happy with remembering Metroid as it once was. There's a point at which you really don't need to iterate on an idea any more, and I think Metroid's reached it.

Metroid Prime

Was the reason I got a Gamecube in the first place, and it remains my favourite FPS for atmosphere alone. So glad I have the increasingly hard to find trilogy on Wii, the definitive way to play the Prime series.